This is a small village that lives on tradition and respect and the warriors have a feel of the last Samurai, proud and fierce. While the rest of the world has moved on apace Kaigen feels like stepping into the past.

The Sword of Kaigen, as this little piece of land has become known is like a step back in time. They are powerful warriors who wield magic to form blades of ice and other creatures that make up the first line of defence for the Empire.

The Matsuda family live on a remote peninsula on the edge of the Kaigenese Empire. Mamoru is 14 years old and has been brought up with great expectations of becoming a warrior and protecting his home like all the Matsuda warriors that came before him. This is a story with two central characters Mamoru’s and his mother Misaki. Oh, I would also say at this point that this book does contain some triggers so be aware of that. Okay, that probably sounds a little tamer than this is so I’ll move on with the review. In fact I would say this is a book about coming to terms with who you are and the choices you’ve made, a book of regrets and emotions and realising, in some cases a little too late, that what you have in front of you is sometimes as good as what you left behind. I usually dive straight into my books with as little knowledge beforehand as possible and so with that in mind and given the title I think I was expecting the tale of a hero saving the day – and of course whilst there is war here, the discovery of a hero is not really the main focus of the story. I’ve had a little time to reflect on this one, I enjoyed it but I confess it’s not exactly what I expected when I picked it up, which is of course completely on me. Purely by coincidence this was the book that I drew to read last in my random selection and It worked out well leaving me with a good note to conclude the competition on. The Sword of Kaigen is my final book of the SPFBO competition and my last review.

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